Another singular trait of man is that he has wants in addition to needs,
a feature which, if pondered to its finale,
would take a man with an interest in getting-to-the-bottom-of-things
from the inner bondage of Egypt to the freedom of Las Vegas.
                             (The Promised Land of the few, [it turns out], is lit up from within.)
 

It is most suitable to study this matter in the setting whereby we say that:
the body is in charge of man’s needs, and his thoughts, his wants;
indeed, beyond the actual physical needs of the body to survive,
men have no wants, no additional desires, do they not think about them:
that is the sole purpose of all advertising:
to get you to think about something until you want it.
 
 

But wants are a story strictly unto themselves;
there is nothing visible like them in the whole universe;
there are no signs of wants present in stars, protons, petunias or starfish;
every action of every thing observed by man
reveals it to serve some need of the entity acting --
only with man does this universal constant fail;
only man makes sustained actions which serve no material needs in him.

Of course were this not so, planets perhaps would be the pinnacle of intelligence
in the universe instead of man,
and they would be landing space craft on him rather than the other way about.
If man lived only by and for his needs, he would still be in the trees with the apes;
wants define and drive man;
beyond the simple sustenance level,
all that man does is motivated by his wants.
 

Once a communally living group of human beings have collectively conquered
the on going problem of physically surviving, (their needs are met),
they will immediately begin to have wants;
when their thoughts are no longer pressed into constant service figuring out
ways to feed and protect themselves more efficiently than instinct directs,
their thoughts will begin to conjure up wants.
Same as his neighbors, a man has built a fully adequate wind driven device
to move water from a low stream to more fertile farm land above,
then after a bit, the thought comes to him that he wants his to pump
twice as much water as his neighbor's to the north,
or the thought pops into his head that he wants his windmill painted red
as contrasted to the brown color of his neighbors to the south,
and soon as could be wished for,  true-civilization is up and running;
man has wants  --  man’s complete measure of consciousness has arrived.
 
 

Now for the moment: take your own impartial survey:
man has a few clear, basic needs which must be met for him to survive,
and quite distinct from these limited needs are his wants,
which do not have to be met for him to survive, but without which,
he is not a complete man.

Needs are the same in all men, (food, water, rest),
while wants seem to vary greatly from man to man:
some want a convertible; some want an SUV;
some want a god named Bob; some want one named Angelo;
some want to be famous as an athlete,
others want to be celebrated as a singer,
and while they appear discrepant they are common in that their failing
will not threaten survival, nor cause physical harm --  rather –
mental distress;
personal wants not being fulfilled makes men’s thoughts upset,
(well, they say they are, although they never throw up, or show a fever?!).
If having wants is the commencement of true civilization,
then man’s mental distress is its sustenance;
if having wants marks the completion of man’s ordinary consciousness,
upset thoughts are its maintenance;
unless man’s thoughts concerning wants were continually disappointed,
this entire whirligig would fly apart by Wednesday.
The synonym for needs is: success come survival;
the synonym for wants is: disappointment tempered by flashes of fun.
 

Needs and wants are clearly two entirely different matters:
this is observably how it is  --  save for a few.
Those born with the irresistible itch to solve-the-case
are peculiarly structured whereby in them,
the two disparate worlds of needs and wants overlap, (in one place).
In ordinary men the twin realms are totally separate;
a man’s need for food never comes in contact with his want to be famous,
but in the few with that certain-hunger,
their thought-want to understand-what-is-going-on
does touch their actual need to survive;
their want to understand that which no one else does, or apparently wants to,
is damn near in them --  a need.
Lack of fulfillment will not kill them, but it makes their life frustrating in a way
far beyond that felt by men upset because they have not achieved fame,
or become wealthy.
 

Wanting-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-things is a thought-matter that is so
singular and intense in the real-few that the word, want does it no justice;
it overlaps into the realm of needs, and in them,
can have an appropriately driving force;
this is what gives its frustration its unique, pungent flavor,
and is why it cannot be described to other men lacking it.
Ordinary men know that their wants not being met will not be
the death of them --
their thoughts may speak of misery and heartbreak, but they realize that:
“Not gettin’ your wants won’t kill ya!” --  but in a figurative sense, the few,
not having their want to develop super sight met,
over a lifetime feel almost as though it will,
(and that they may be the first instance of a human being, frustrating-to-death).
 
 
 
 

The use of today’s model.
With the little effort and time required,
make your own survey and permanent schematic of the clear fact that
men have needs and wants --  two distinctively different matters;
needs, which are essential  --  and wants, which are not;
and that all needs arise in man automatically by instinct,
while all wants are totally dependent on thought;
there is no want that any man can have without him thinking about it;
take it as your responsibility to make continual note of the existence,
and distinction of these two realms,
and once this is done and clear,
turn you attention to the overlap,
where your personal want to awaken from man’s dream
is in contact with man’s collective need to survive;